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Higher Ed

Nearly 60 student, consumer, and education groups signed on to this letter that was sent up to the Hill on Monday, February 13. It calls for the CFPB to remain a strong, independent agency, so it can protect student loan borrowers (and taxpayers) from predatory lending tactics.

We helped win protections for students from unfair fees associated with campus bank accounts. The new rules, released by the U.S. Department of Education, ban some of the worst and most predatory fees that students encounter from banks.

"Student loan debt isn’t an 800 pound gorilla in Colorado. It’s an 800,000 pound gorilla with nearly 800,000 people in Colorado with student loan debt. Student loan debt is large, it’s growing and we applaud Representative DeGette for being a champion of policies that will tackle this issue," said Danny Katz, CoPIRG Director.

This study demonstrates that despite recent steps forward in the marketplace, high textbook costs will continue to be a problem for students unless the cost of high-priced, new editions of college textbooks comes down.

According to an issue brief released today by CoPIRG, the upcoming increase in student loan interest rates would hike the cost of Colorado students’ loans by $141 million. That translates into a $915 increase in debt per student, per loan.

Without a new plan from Congress, on July 1 the interest rate on subsidized Stafford student loans will double, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. In Colorado, 154,128 federal student loan borrowers will be impacted if the rate doubles.